Not even two weeks in my possession and I’m thinking that I should’ve gotten a Toyota instead. It’s really crazy since in those days that I’ve been checking the car out and test driving it, there were very minimal things to fix. But now, all the quirks are showing up and I’m now convinced that I’m in for the long haul before I really get this to good shape. Oh well.

Sure there are pains that go with buying with an old car but now I understand why our friends in Europe send decade-old cars to the scrapyard. I initially thought that this car was a steal with the relatively low price compared to Corollas of the same year (equipped with carburetors) since this was the luxury sedan Sentra and already equipped with EFI.

But my initial fear of getting a car that’s overly reliant on electronics is biting me now. The starting and idling problems I am convinced are all related to the complex system of sensors all linked to the ECU. And there’s no real way of telling which one’s malfunctioning since 1) I don’t have the CONSULT module and 2) my ECU doesn’t have a diagnostic mode. While the check engine light doesn’t blink at all, I’m thinking it’s because of the crummy wiring that the previous owner has done to the vehicle.

While not really anything crazy, I know I can live with the idling problems since a few punches on the accelerator seemed to correct it and nothing seemed to be the matter when I’m already on the go. However, yesterday, the car started to do something crazy - it was jerking and bucking when accelerating. I lost a lot of pull in the low gears and it became impossible for me to accelerate smoothly.

An initial assumption that I have is that the MAP sensor is screwed as a MAP sensor gone bad can easily cause bucking and jerking. Here are the problem areas that I am placing my bets on:

1) Sensors (airflow, idle, fuel, temperature…) and their wirings (I’m sure that the dealership servicemen would recommend replacing the engine wiring harness due to the crummy electrical work done on the car).
2) ECU (Please, please, don’t let it be a busted ECU!)

I’ve set a schedule with the dealership later today at least to have the car diagnosed using Nissan’s CONSULT module. And this is the only thing I scheduled to be done. The dealership doesn’t really repair parts, they simply replace them. And brand new original parts cost a fortune. I’m just hoping that it’s an adjustment on the sensors as each sensor is already worth a lot. The verdict that I really don’t want to get is that the ECU is fucked up. A brand new one is already worth half the car’s worth right now.